‘Comedy 101’: It’s Not Easy Being Green

In “Comedy 101,” every student starts out on equal footing. The 40-minute video documentary chronicles the triumphs and travails of four amateur comics, “open-mikers,” and intercuts them with the war stories of four open-mike veterans who went on to headlining success and beyond: Kevin Meaney, Judy Tenuta, Richard Jeni and Bill Hicks.

“Comedy 101: Tales From the Open-Mike Stage,” produced by Costa Mesa-based Strauss-McGarr Entertainment, will screen tonight at the Brea Improv before a performance by Hicks, among the best and bravest comics working the clubs today.

While Duncan Strauss and Colleen McGarr, partners in the management company, have been involved in video projects before, this documentary was “the first time we’d done something that was totally our baby,” said Strauss. “The whole shebang, from start to finish, was ours.”

The result can be seen as a primer for aspiring stand-up comedians; it also provides an intriguing behind-the-scenes look for comedy fans. Hicks and Jeni are particularly candid in discussing their early evolution and the combined thrill and horror of taking a stage for the first time.

Open-mike nights are “sort of a rite of initiation that everyone has to experience,” Strauss said. “You have to start with open-mike nights. There’s virtually no other way to start down the road” in comedy.

McGarr has been booking a comedy club in West Palm Beach, Fla., for seven years. It is where the four very different amateur subjects (including a 92-year-old) were chosen and where the documentary was shot.

“My favorite thing about (booking the club) has always been open mike, just for the bare courage it takes to get up there,” she said. “Amateur anything I think is hilarious.”

When Strauss and McGarr started discussing ideas for their first joint project, open-mike nights seemed a natural. “I was intrigued and wanted to look into it more,” McGarr said. “I was interested in that point where people say, ‘Well, I’m a bus driver or a schoolteacher, but I want to be a comedian.’ ”

Strauss, a free-lance writer who covered rock music and comedy for The Times before becoming a talent manager, said he and McGarr “are both pretty passionate about comedy.” Choosing open-mikers as the subject of their venture was “the cinematic equivalent of the ‘write what you know’ adage.”

“Comedy 101” has screened once, at a comedy festival in Montreal. Tonight marks the first time it has been shown publicly in the United States. Strauss and McGarr are still seeking a broadcast outlet.

Since making the documentary, Strauss and McGarr have taken Hicks on as a client.

Beyond that, Strauss and McGarr would like to do more projects together but have no specific plans. “This was a really good experience,” McGarr said. “We hope to do more things.”

* “Comedy 101: Tales From the Open-Mike Stage” documentary screens tonight at 7:30 before a performance by comedian Bill Hicks at the Brea Improv, 945 E. Birch St., Brea. $10. (714) 529-7878.